Tolstoy Question

[Hugh McLean]

Alexandra Smith wrote:
> Quoting Judson Rosengrant <jrosengrant at EARTHLINK.NET>:
>
>> If I may, I have a small question for students of Tolstoy and perhaps of
>> nineteenth-century Russian domestic culture.  Near the end of the third
>> paragraph of Chap. 29 of the Юность section of Tolstoy's trilogy, we 
>> find
>> the following:
>>
>> Происходило ли это оттого, что прозаические воспоминания 
>> детства--линейка,
>> простыня, капризничанье--были еще слишком свежи в памяти, или от 
>> отвращения,
>> которое имеют очень молодые люди ко всему домашнему . . . , но только 
>> Володя
>> еще до сих пор не смотрел на Катеньку, как на женщину.
>>
>> In an earlier draft Tolstoy had, Володя долго не мог переварить 
>> воспоминаний
>> детства, слез, линейки, простыни, связанных с Катенькой. . .
> ------------------------
> Dear Judson,
>
> It seems to me that in the final version Tolstoy makes the erotic 
> overtones, embedded in his draft version of the passage (related to 
> Katen'ka) less explicit.
> In the description of Karl Ivanovich in chapter 1 (Detstvo) one of the 
> rulers is described as a tool used for punishment (it looks like a 
> long ruler):
>
> --На другой стене висели ландкарты, все почти изорванные, но искусно 
> подкленные рукою Карла Иваныча. На третьей стене, в середине которой 
> была дверь вниз, с одной стороны висели две линейки: одна - 
> изрезанная, наша, другая - новенькая, собственная, употребляемая им 
> более для поощрения, чем для линевания [...]
>
> The passage quoted in your e-mail suggests to me that Tolstoy's 
> narrator describes his period of puberty. He refers to his daydreaming 
> (for which he was punished by his teacher, since he might have been 
> lacking concentration during his lessons); his mood swings and his 
> erotic dreams. The three words- lineika, prostynia and kapriznichan'e 
> -- make perfect sense if you read them in the context of changes that 
> happen to boys during puberty. Tolstoy suggests that his character's 
> memories were unromantic and embarrassing; and he also says that some 
> young men grow to hate these memories and tend to suppress them (he 
> uses a strong word "otvrashchenie"). In chapter one "Karl Ivanovich" 
> (Detstvo) Tolstoy's narrator  already  mentions the fact that he had 
> some dreams that he didn't want to discuss with Karl Ivanovich, his 
> teacher, who came to wake him up. The chapter starts with the 
> reference to the character's tenth birthday.
>
> with best wishes,
> Alexandra
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
> Reader in Russian Studies
> Department of European Languages and Cultures
> School of  Languages, Literatures and Cultures
> The University of Edinburgh
> David Hume Tower
> George Square
> Edinburgh EH8 9JX
> UK
>
> tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
> fax: +44- (0)131 -651 -1482
> e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

This is ingenious, but the phrase "perfect sense" seems overdone. The 
point of the sentence is that the narrator precisely was NOT having 
erotic thoughts about Katen'ka, had never thought of her as a woman. 
Then what is a bed-sheet doing there?
>
>
>
>
>

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